


Snakebites & Double Dates

by brionypoisoned



Series: A Wholesome Archival Office AU [2]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Real World, Awkward Crush, Double Dating, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Miscommunication, One Shot, Romantic Comedy, Timothy Stoker is a snack, Workplace Relationship, rated T literally for one dumb joke and some swearing, some light pining, the stakes are low in this one friends, timsasha
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24098929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brionypoisoned/pseuds/brionypoisoned
Summary: Tim couldn't help but stare at Sasha. She had glammed up just a bit after work with the application of some bright red lipstick, and had tied her hair back with a floral wrap. Even in her ridiculous highlighter stained cardigan she looked striking. He tried to shake himself out of it. Tim Stoker didn'tpine!He wasn't bloodyMartin!
Relationships: Sasha James/Tim Stoker
Series: A Wholesome Archival Office AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1738744
Comments: 19
Kudos: 107





	Snakebites & Double Dates

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! This work is a spin-off of my previous multi-chapter fic, **Card Catalogs and Finding Aids** , and it might help you to understand this one if you read that one first. I had a lot of fun writing Tim and Sasha in that fic, and so when I discovered that they canonically hooked up I decided that MY Tim and Sasha ought to as well! GOSH DARN IT!
> 
> Anyway, this is my no magic no entities AU where Jon and Martin are already dating, and honestly I think that's about all you need to understand this fic. But feel free to read the other one if you want!
> 
> Please enjoy!

Under normal circumstances, when Tim Stoker found someone attractive, he realized it right away. Not to boast, but _usually_ the other person in question was attracted to him as well, and things would just sort of predictably progress from there. 

With Sasha it was different. They had been friends for years before Tim realized that he had feelings for her, and he could pinpoint the exact moment he realized he wanted to ask her on a date. It happened shortly after Jon and Martin became an item, and it was so stupid that there was no way he could ever possibly tell her about it.

They both had been working on some follow up research on a VERY old manuscript collection, taking a break from their usual oral history work, and Sasha broke the usual tomblike archival office silence with a little sharp intake of breath. It could have been either a laugh or a cry, it was impossible to tell. Tim leaned around his monitor to look, and found Sasha with her head down, gently pounding her fist on her desk in repressed anguish.

"Sash?" Tim asked. "Are you all right?" He still couldn't tell what emotion she was so effectively stifling.

"Oh my God. Tim. You have to look at this." Sasha managed to gasp. Tim trotted the short distance over to her desk and glanced at her monitor. A page from an 18th century book on HathiTrust was open on the screen, and a few words stood out, highlighted by her cursor.

"...The Grand Nutting Festival." Tim read aloud, prompting Sasha to let out another little shriek of what was now clearly laughter. "Oh my God, Sasha." Tim said, rubbing his forehead. "You are a child." 

She looked up, tears streaming down her face, expression still pained.

"It's so... stupid..." She said, still shaking in the attempt to hold in her laughter. "But just... just imagine that festival!!" Her voice sort of strangled itself into a high pitched giggle and once again she was lost. 

At that precise, absurd, moment, as Sasha nearly collapsed over a joke about nutting, Tim realized that he had feelings for this woman. Like... actual feelings, beyond their famously successful workplace friendship. 

The change in Tim's headspace was positively seismic. Unfortunately, that was the only place anything seemed to change. He and Sasha continued to work together, to chat, to communicate via eyebrow expressions over the top of their computer monitors, but he couldn't seem to communicate that he wanted more. Again, he was used to the people he found attractive finding him attractive back, and making that clear in fairly obvious ways. But with Sasha... everything was different. She was nice to him, of course, but not in a firty way. She certainly didn't treat him differently than she treated anyone else. Come to think of it, he'd never seen her actually _flirt_ with anyone, at least not in a way he would recognize as flirting, and he knew from their years of friendship that she could be somewhat awkward about these things. 

In the end, he went to Martin for advice.

"Fuck off!" said Martin, after Tim first approached him the break room about it, a quarter of an hour after Sasha had gone home for the day. 

"No, really, I need your help." Tim repeated, trying to convince him of his sincerity.

"You don't." Martin replied, expression beyond skeptical. "Don't be stupid." 

"Martin." Tim snapped. "Of the two of us, which is currently in a healthy and, as much as I hate to admit it, adorable, relationship with a coworker." 

Martin beamed for a moment. He and Jon had been inseparable outside of work for the past few months. They practically glowed with well-adjustedness. Tim heckled them whenever he caught the two holding hands, but even he had to admit they were a sweet couple. 

"Hold on..." Martin asked, expression thoughtful. "Coworker? You fancy a coworker?" 

"Yeah." Tim admitted.

"Christ, it's not Elias, is it?" Martin asked, horrified.

Tim took a step back as though Martin had just hit him.

"How dare!? You!? Fucking... Elias!?!" Tim asked, looking positively scandalized. "Little rat-bastard man? Useless middle-manager with expensive shoes ELIAS!? And just when I made myself so vulnerable to you!?" 

"Well I don't know your taste in men..." Martin laughed.

"It's not THAT bad Martin! Christ!" 

"Look..." Martin tried to walk it back, but it was too late.

"No Martin, I do not fancy our cheeky middle-aged double-boss." Tim sighed. "I want to... I want to ask Sasha out." 

"SASHA!?" Martin repeated, clapping his hands in delight. "Oh that's lovely! She used to fancy you, you know." 

Tim's ears perked up.

"What!? When!? How!? Wait... _used to_ fancy me?" 

"A while back. Right after you were hired. She made me promise to keep it a secret so you absolutely _cannot_ tell her I said anything." Martin warned. 

"Right." Tim tried to think back to the way Sasha used to act right when he'd been hired. It was tough to remember actually, she'd been so quiet. Maybe when Sasha fancied someone she was just... quiet? That didn't bode well for their current, shit-talking, chatty relationship. "Do you know why she... stopped? Fancying me?" 

Martin shrugged.

"She said you got on too well as friends. But maybe she just thought you didn't like her back!"

At that moment Jon stepped into the break room, not looking up from a transcript of one of their oral histories. 

"Martin, what would you think about stopping at Tesco on the way home and picking up a... ah." He froze, finally realizing that he and Martin weren't alone.

"Don't worry, boss-man." Tim said with a smile. "You can be domestic, I won't tell anyone." 

Jon scowled at that but Martin just grinned. 

"Jon, what would you say to going on a double date with Tim?" Martin asked, voice pleasant. 

"Wait..." Jon looked confused. "Go on a date with... Tim?" 

"Yes Jon." Tim said, dripping sarcasm. "Martin is asking me to join into your relationship as a third party. Because Martin has fallen prey to the common faux pas of mistaking bisexuality with polyamory." 

"What... what is happening?" Jon asked, his poor little asexual heart pounding in fear.

"No... oh my God, Tim." Martin groaned, giving Tim a little glare. "Tim wants to ask Sasha out, and I thought we could make it a double date. Ease them into it." Martin said. "We've all hung out before." 

"Right." Tim said. "Under normal workplace circumstances. A double date blows that whole dynamic to pieces."

"So does kissing your boss in a hallway on a work trip." Martin said with a little shrug. "Maybe you NEED to blow up the dynamic." 

"Stop... blowing things up, Martin." Jon said with an affectionate smile. "I know its one of your favorite pastimes but I think this is Tim's decision."

"I..." Tim glanced between Jon and Martin. They were just so fucking cute. Jon brought out Martin's assertiveness, and Martin calmed some of Jon's worst judgemental tendencies. They could both still be real pains in the ass, of course, but Tim couldn't deny their effectiveness as a couple. He wanted something like that. "Ok. Maybe... let's give it a shot." 

~*~

Sasha wasn't sure why every man in her office seemed to have suddenly lost his fucking mind. 

She'd asked Martin to bring her a book from the library and he'd gone all red as though she'd just asked him to join her for the first minuet in a Jane Austen film.

Jon wouldn't make eye contact with her, even when she was standing directly across from him in his office asking a very simple question about where the stapler had gone. 

And Tim, her final lifeline, her last connection to sanity, kept ignoring her chats! 

That was unacceptable. 

"Psst! Asshole!" She whispered, when Martin had left the office and Jon had his office door safely shut.

"Who? Me?" Tim finally responded, leaning around his computer monitor to make eye contact.

"Yes you! Is your internet working? I sent you a lovely cat video." 

"I saw it." Tim admitted. "It was very funny."

"You've got to tell me these things!" Sasha laughed. "Please, sir, can I get a crumb of reaction gif?" 

Tim laughed. 

"SOME of us are here to work, Sasha." Tim said, voice full of faux haughtiness. "Perhaps you've heard of it."

"Oh, sod off." Sasha replied, rolling her eyes. 

"Erm, hey." Tim said, his usual cocky tone strangely off kilter. "Actually... would you, erm, be up for some drinks? Maybe? Tonight?" 

"Sure!" Sasha agreed immediately, with a smile. "Sounds good. The usual?" She and Tim went out for drinks once or twice a month; they even had a favorite bar that they could walk to from the institute and had a few good drinks deals.

"Oh, erm, actually I was thinking... ah..." Tim shifted in his seat awkwardly. 

"Are you all right?" Sasha teased. "Spit it out." 

"Jon and Martin asked if we could join them. At the pub." He said.

"Oh!" Sasha pondered that proposition for a moment before answering. "I mean... sure, if they don't mind us crashing their date."

Tim seemed to struggle with his response.

"I-I think it's fine?" He eventually managed to say, in a defeated tone.

"Is that why Jon's been so weird today?"

"Weirder than usual, you mean?" Tim asked, automatically. 

"Yeah. Oh my God, do you think they have an announcement or something?" Sasha asked, tone lowering conspiratorially.

"What... like.. they're breaking up?" Tim asked.

"Tim." Sasha gave him a long-suffering look. "Why on _earth_ would Jon and Martin invite us out for drinks to announce that they were breaking up?"

"I don't know, maybe they're fighting over custody of us." Tim said with a little grin. "Who gets us on weekends."

Sasha smiled before putting on a faux expression of concern.

"The important thing to remember is they love both of us equally." Sasha said, like a children's counselor. "And that it isn't our fault." 

"Ooh!" Tim grinned. "Maybe we could turn them against one another for special favors!"

"Some rum raisin ice cream?" Sasha suggested.

"Or a PONY." 

"Tim, they're obviously announcing their engagement." Sasha laughed. 

"WHAT!?" Tim asked. 

"I can't think of any other possible reason they'd want us to tag along with them on a date. " She smiled, settling back into her seat with a smug little face. "I'm happy for them. They're very cute." 

Before Tim could assemble a coherent response Martin stepped back into the office and Sasha made an exaggerated "hush hush!" face. Tim laughed nervously and glanced at Martin, who, fortunately, seemed too distracted to notice what was going on. 

"All right?" Martin asked.

"Yup!" Sasha said, with a smile. 

"...sure." Tim said, a note of defeat creeping into his voice.

~*~

Tim stood in the men's room, internally debating whether to even change into the shirt he'd brought in case Sasha said yes to the date. He sighed in frustration. Usually, asking someone out WAS NOT THIS DIFFICULT.

Martin stepped in, humming a little tune. He paused at the sight of Tim standing in front of the sinks, staring dejectedly at a nice black dress shirt.

"You all right?" Martin asked, expression sympathetic.

"It's fine. It's all gone wrong." Tim sighed. "Sasha doesn't think it's a date, she thinks we're just crashing yours."

"Oh no!" Martin gave a little frown. "I suppose its too late to clarify?" 

"Not without looking like a knob." Tim said, starting to stuff the shirt back into his bag.

"Now hold on!" Martin protested. "Look, just because it didn't start out like you wanted doesn't mean it can't turn into a nice evening! You should wear the shirt. Do your whole... charming thing. See if she notices." 

"My 'charming thing?'" Tim asked with a hesitant smile. "What's that?"

"Don't act like you don't know. Pretend she's a police officer you're trying to get to do you a favor." 

"Pffft." Tim scoffed. "Sasha'd never forgive me." 

"For flirting?"

"For pretending she's a cop." 

"Look, all I'm saying is don't give up." Martin said. "We could still have a nice night out." 

Tim took a deep breath and looked at his reflection. As always, he looked like an absolute snack. 

"Fine." He said. "I'll put the shirt on." He immediately began to disrobe.

"Christ Tim! Give me a second!" Martin fled into a stall, as Tim laughed.

~*~

A few minutes after the end of work hours Sasha peeked back into Jon's office.

"Knock knock?" She said out loud, in that annoying way Elias did.

"Yes? Oh! Hello Sasha." Jon looked up from a document. "You need something?"

"Just returning your stapler." Sasha said, stepping over to his desk and placing it gingerly on the edge. She eyed the tall stack of documents sitting in front of him on his desk. "Are you going to meet us out at the pub, then, or are we all walking over together?" She asked.

"Oh so you're coming!" Jon smiled up at her, with an inexplicable expression of relief. "You said yes?" 

"Sure! It's not as though I had anything better on." Sasha answered.

"Ah." Jon said. "Tim will be pleased then, I suppose." 

"Tim?" Sasha tilted her head. 

"I've never seen him so nervous actually." Jon laughed. "It was sort of endearing."

"W-what?" Sasha repeated. 

"To ask you out! He was so nervous!" Jon said.

"Oh!" Sasha's feet froze to the floor and her expression sort of stretched into one of fake politeness stamped atop of pure horror. "Right." She said, tone bizarrely chipper.

"Anyway, I'm not going to be too long, Martin and I ought to be able to walk with you. Unless you'd prefer to walk with Tim on your own?" 

"No we should all go together!" Sasha responded, tone much more shrill than either of them expected or enjoyed.

"Er... right." Jon said. "Well, see you soon, I suppose." 

Sasha scurried out of the office.

~*~

The group of four walked down the streets of Chelsea, trying to keep together amongst the crowds. Sasha, next to Tim, attracted a few side eyes from passers by. She was used to it. Some people were perpetually confused as to what she, a short, somewhat plump, dark-skinned black woman, was doing with such a tall, undeniably handsome man. It didn't bother her, they could all get fucked.

Tim had changed into a black shirt which was either a touch too small for him or specifically designed to show off his arm muscles to their full advantage. His dirty blonde hair fell artistically across his forehead and he had let his beard grow to just the perfect amount of scruff.

Sasha usually didn't let herself think about how Tim always seemed to have the perfect amount of scruff. He was a mate, a REALLY good mate, and thinking about things like how his beard would feel just a little bit scratchy against her face as they kissed was exactly the sort of thing that would only make her miserable. 

"You all right?" Tim asked.

"What? Sure. Yeah. It's fine." Sasha mumbled.

"Is there something on my face?" 

"No." Sasha said.

The suggestion that Tim might have something on his face, however, reminded Sasha of an incident from that morning. She had been highlighting some forms for the oral history participants to sign and her hand had slipped, accidentally getting a highlighter stain on her own cardigan. She'd forgotten about it because the location of the stain wasn't immediately visible to her. 

"Oh bollocks!" She whispered as she stretched her cardigan out to see if the stain was visible. It certainly was. A garishly pink line stood prominently out against the green of her cardigan, drawing a long curved line directly below her left boob.

"What's that?" Tim asked.

"Highlighter." She answered, horrified.

Tim's face lit up into a grin as he took in the extent of the damage.

"Nice, Sasha! You trying to draw some attention the one on the left there? Bold!" 

"Oh my God, Tim." Sasha huffed at him.

"Honestly, I respect the hustle!" 

Tim dodged her playful elbow easily. She considered for a moment asking him about what Jon had said earlier. Something like, "You won't believe it, but Jon thinks you were asking me on a DATE!" but she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. As she glanced back up at Tim though, who was still laughing at her highlighted boob, a long ignored curious feeling nagged at her. What if they were more than just friends?

In front of them a few paces, Martin finished whispering to Jon his update on the situation.

"So Sasha doesn't think it's a date." He explained. "So we're just going to act like a normal friend outing." 

"Are you _sure_ Sasha doesn't think its a date?" Jon asked, forehead furrowing.

"Tim said he couldn't ask her, he got too scared." Martin said. 

Jon glanced back at Sasha and Tim, and then back at Martin, expression like that of a dog caught next to a shredded pillow. 

"I may have unintentionally asked her out for him." He admitted, voice soft.

"Oh my God, Jon." Martin groaned.

"Look, I didn't know Tim was going to chicken out..."

"Oh no!” Martin said, realization dawning on him. "Wait, is Tim now the only one who doesn't think this is a date?" 

"Seems like?" 

"Well." Martin let out a deep sigh. "Sounds like it's going to be a FUN NIGHT."

Jon cringed in apology.

~*~

A few minutes later the coworkers all settled into a comfortable corner table at one of Martin's favorite pubs. It was a lucky get, as this place filled up pretty quickly on Thursdays. Already several large groups of people, mostly still dressed in office garb, were huddling and chatting in clusters around the place.

Tim couldn't help but stare at Sasha. She had glammed up just a bit after work with the application of some bright red lipstick, and had tied her hair back with a floral wrap. Even in her ridiculous highlighter stained cardigan she looked striking. He tried to shake himself out of it. Tim Stoker didn't _pine!_ He wasn't bloody _Martin!_

Jon, to everyone's shock, bought the first round of drinks.

"What?" He asked, when everyone looked at him quizzically as he handed them their pints. "I can hang!" He protested.

"Christ, Jon, the fact you've just said that out loud means that you can't." Tim said.

Jon looked taken aback until Martin leaned over, took his boyfriend's hand in his and gave it a gentle kiss.

"Don't worry, love." He assured him, "I know you can hang." 

They made it through the next few rounds in a pleasant enough fashion. Jon and Martin seemed to be physically pulled towards one another by some kind of romantic centrifugal force. Eventually their shoulders were visibly touching, and it was clear they were holding hands under the table. Tim eyed the spacious gap between himself and Sasha; it was absolutely impassable. 

"See, this is what I mean." Sasha said, gesturing at Martin who at that point appeared to be physically resisting the urge to lay his head down on Jon's shoulder. Tim glanced at Sasha with interest. Her tone of voice? The way she leaned forward confidently on her elbows? It had all the trappings of Tipsy Sasha. "You two are so fucking cute." She continued, slurring her words ever so slightly. "It's not allowed." 

"It IS allowed!" Martin assured her with cheer. "We checked with Elias!" 

"Honestly I still can't believe it actually is." Jon admitted, shaking his head. "It almost certainly shouldn't be."

"Shush, love." Martin said, beaming. 

"I'm going to get another round." Tim said, not willing to stare at his blissfully happy coworkers for any longer than necessary. "Any requests?"

"A snakebite." Sasha said smiling with tipsy confidence. "Please."

"With blackcurrant?" Tim asked.

"Of COURSE." 

What are you, 18?" Tim asked with a teasing laugh.

"You know you want one, now." Sasha said.

"Fine, fuck you, we're both teenage girls then." Tim agreed, and set off to the bar. 

The bar was crowded enough that finding a place to actually order required strategic thought. He ended up positioning himself behind a crowd of young women who all had their checkbooks out and ready, in the hopes that they'd get served first. Back when he was a bartender he always served people that were ready to pay before anyone else. As he waited for an opening, a young woman in a very tight and flattering sparkly skirt turned around in front of him, wobbling a bit on her heels.

"Hullo sweetie." She said, with a smile. Her eye makeup was utterly impeccable, he had to admire the skill. If she didn't already have a youtube tutorial channel she ought to start one right away.

"Hiya." Tim replied. He didn't mean to grin flirtatiously back, it was just automatic. "You all right?" 

"Sure am." She giggled. "I like your shirt." 

"Thanks." Tim replied. "So do I." 

She laughed and extended a hand for him to shake, showing off an exceptional manicure. "I'm Tori." She said. 

"I'm..." Tim looked over at his table, and, to his surprise, met Sasha's gaze full on. Her expression looked somewhat... not exactly stricken, but... disappointed? As soon as she caught his eye she looked away, recovering herself and laughing at something that Martin or Jon said a moment later. Tim turned his attention back to the young woman. He gave her hand a quick shake. "I'm flattered, but unavailable at the moment." He answered.

"Fair enough!" Tori said with another little laugh, and turned back to her friends. 

Tim returned the table about 10 minutes later, hands full of drinks, and retook his seat next to Sasha.

"Your snakebite, madam." He offered.

"Thanks!" Sasha took the purple beverage and clinked it against Tim's. "I saw that girl try to chat you up back there." She said, taking a long sip of her drink. "What's wrong? She not your type?"

"I... I don't think it's going to be that kind of evening, unfortunately." Tim answered.

"Martin and I used to time it, you know." Sasha said, making Martin cough on his drink.

"Time what?" Tim asked.

"How long it would take for someone to try to pick you up! Have you ever seen him in action, Jon?" Sasha asked, leaning over the table so that Jon could hear her.

"I... erm..." Jon glanced over at Tim for help.

"What was the record again?" Sasha asked Martin, who himself was beginning to look a bit tipsy.

"It had to be that Carly Rae Jepsen song..." Martin answered.

"CALL ME MAYBE BOY!" Sasha announced. "10 seconds! You stood up to get another drink, the song Call Me Maybe came on, and you were pulling him in a corner before it finished."

Tim snorted. "That was a good night." He admitted, with a little smile. "Ben, his name was. He still texts sometimes!" 

"Does he? Or does he... call you, maybe?" Martin joked. Sasha and Tim looked daggers at him in disapproval of the pun but Jon gave it a hearty chuckle.

"You three all used to go out together?" Jon asked. 

"Sometimes!" Sasha said. "Usually it would be Martin and me sitting alone and chatting about work while Tim fended off crowds of fit people all giving him free drinks." 

"I always shared my free drinks!" Tim defended himself. "Let it never be said that I hoarded the free drinks!" 

"So what's off tonight? She looked all right, that girl." Sasha asked, narrowing her eyes and putting her elbows on the table. 

Tim mentally scrambled for a conversational escape route. He glanced at Martin and Jon.

"Sasha thought you two were going to announce your engagement tonight." He deflected, taking a sip of his snakebite as he did so.

"WHAT!?" Jon sputtered. Martin made a series of shrill, distressed, incomprehensible noises.

"Oh, you bastard!" Sasha laughed, burying her face in her hands.

"We, erm..." Martin said.

"Sasha, we've only been dating for four months." Jon scolded.

"I'd have to change departments!" Martin said. His eyes widened. "Not that... I mean, obviously that's not the only reason we haven't got engaged."

"Right, I mean, of course..." Jon muttered, fumbling his words. Both of them looked miserable.

"Just ignore him, I was mostly joking." Sasha said. "I mean I think you're a very cute couple and if you got married it would be very very sweet and... mind... if you didn't invite me to the wedding I would violently murder all of you..."

"Wow!" Tim said. "Strong feelings!"

"I'm just being honest." Sasha said.

"Are we planning the wedding now?" Tim laughed, glancing back to Martin and Jon. "Can I officiate?" 

"Hmmm." Martin looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'm thinking summer." He answered, with a bit of a playful smile.

"Ooh! Martin Sims!" Tim suggested. "How's that sound, Jon?" Tim tried to get Jon involved in the joke, hoping he hadn't said anything too out of line.

"They'd hyphenate." Sasha said. "Cause they're feminists."

"Ah, very forward thinking, Sasha." Tim said with an approving nod.

"Martin, I think you're drunk." Jon said, finally.

"I'm just joking Jon... don't get scared." Martin laughed.

"I'm not, don't worry." Jon gave Martin an affectionate kiss on the cheek. He then turned his attention, now laser focused and somehow... intimidating? On to Tim. Tim gulped as Jon turned to Sasha. "Sasha," Jon said, tone clear and decisive. "Tim's just deflecting because he fancies you."

Tim Stoker actually spit out his drink at that.

"Oh my GOD Jon." Martin gasped. Jon smiled with a glint of wicked triumph in his eye.

"Martin, are you about ready to go home?" Jon asked, extending his hand to his partner.

"I suppose I am now!" Martin said. He and Jon slid out of the booth, Martin mouthing an apology at Tim as he did so. They waved goodbye as they disappeared through the crowd, leaving a horrified Tim and Sasha all at once alone. 

Sasha sat frozen for a moment, hands clasped in her lap. Tim absently wiped the table where he had spat out his drink with a woefully inadequate little bar napkin.

"Jon's ridiculous." Sasha said in a conciliatory way, delicately picking up her snakebite.

She was being generous, giving him the option of changing the subject. If Tim continued on as normal they could both just pretend nothing had ever happened and continue as friends. 

Tim took a deep breath, thinking of the expression in Sasha's eyes when she saw him flirting with Tori.

"Would you like to stick around for one more drink? With me?" Tim asked, hating the way his voice sounded. He was like some sort of nervous teen, not his usual confident self at all. He carried on anyway. "As a proper date, not... like, whatever this whole thing turned into."

"Tim, are you sure?" Sasha asked. "You actually want to ask me on a date? I HAVE HIGHLIGHTER ON MY BOOB, TIM." 

"It's very fetching." Tim answered, not missing a beat.

"You know it's not!" Sasha protested, all of her cool demeanor evaporating. She buried her face in her hands. "You don't want to date me!! You're just... curious!" 

"Curious?" 

"Right! Because we get on so well, and you're bored, so you just thought... 'maybe Sasha!?'" 

"Thats..." Tim couldn't even formulate what he wanted to say in response to that. "What?" He asked, indignant.

"I'm saying." Sasha explained to him, expression exhausted. "You don't actually WANT to date me, you just want to find out what would happen if we did."

Tim shook his head, stunned. He looked at Sasha, his lovely Sasha, and took in her utterly frazzled demeanor. He put a hand up and touched her cheek, resting his fingers just below her jawline. Her enchanting dark eyes widened as he did so, but she didn't pull back. She let out a shaky exhale. 

Tim tilted her head up and pressed his lips against hers. 

As far as his skills a transcriptionist, Tim would be the first to tell you he was sub-par. As a researcher? Better, but spotty at best. But he was—without question—a damn good kisser. He could feel Sasha melting against him, letting out a sweet little whimper as she did so. He placed an arm around her waist and pulled her even closer, kissing her even more deeply. 

When he pulled back Sasha let out a little gasp, her eyes fluttering back open. He'd smudged her lipstick a little ways onto her cheek, and he tried to tidy it up with his thumb.

"Look." He said. "I know how _I_ feel. I know that I would like to date you. The question on the table here is how do _you_ feel?"

"Oh." Sasha said, absently running her hand along Tim's muscular shoulder. She blinked a few times. "You know what, I'm not sure how I feel. I think it would help if you kissed me again, though." 

"Really?" Tim teased, leaning closer and stroking her cheek. "Would it help?"

"I mean we'll have to try it and see." Sasha grinned and pulled Tim back into another kiss. 

~*~

Martin and Jon stood, hidden behind a crowd, on the other side of the pub. 

"God, they're really going at it, aren't they?" Jon whispered.

"This is classic Tim." Martin groaned. He'd left his wallet in the booth, and had been waiting for a chance to sneak back and get it for a solid quarter of an hour. Tim and Sasha had been kissing for at least that long. 

"Is this one of his records?" Jon asked. "I mean, from back when you and Sasha would time him."

"That's a good question actually!" Martin laughed. "Depends on when you start the clock. From when you and I left? From when we arrived at the pub?"

"Oh I'd start it from when they started working together, to be honest." Jon said. 

"Oh then he's WELL behind." Martin laughed. "YEARS."

"You two all right?" An intimidatingly large bouncer asked them, tone sharp. "We've had a complaint." 

"What?" Martin squeaked.

Jon glanced back over to Tim and Sasha's booth. The two of them were glaring directly at them; Tim laughing mischievously. 

"They reported us, the bastards." Jon laughed. 

"No! I... we were just... we're not staring at THEM, I left my wallet..." Martin struggled to explain the situation while Jon just buried his face in his hands and laughed. 

In the end Jon and Martin weren't banned from the pub for being creepy voyeurs, but it was a close call. Tim and Sasha decided to call it a night, but not without making plans to meet up again, just the two of them, that weekend.

Sasha still wasn't 100% sure how she felt about this new dynamic. She did, however, grin all the way home that night.


End file.
